Since 2010, the two musicians Francesco Dillon and Emanuele Torquati have curated the concert series music@villaromana, which is dedicated to new collaborations on the threshold between contemporary avantgarde and electronic media.

FRANCESCO DILLON

Francesco Dillon graduated with the maximum of degrees at the Conservatorio “L.Cherubini” in Firenze under the inspirational guidance of Andrea Nannoni. Other very influential teachers where David Geringas, Mario Brunello and Amedeo Baldovino and for the composition studies Salvatore Sciarrino. Beside his solo activity (with Orchestra nazionale della RAI, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana,Orchestra Haydn among the others) he’s very active as cellist of the Quartetto Prometeo (wich tours regularly in Europe, Japan and South America). His deep interest in contemporary music led him to collaborate closely and regularly with some of the most important composers of today such as Gavin Bryars, Ivan Fedele, Luca Francesconi, Philip Glass, Vinko Globokar, Sofia Gubaidulina, Jonathan Harvey, Toshio Hosokawa, Giya Kancheli, David Lang, Arvo Part, Henri Pousseur, Steve Reich, Kaja Saariaho, Salvatore Sciarrino, John Zorn, and with well renowned electronic musicians such as Matmos, Pansonic,Scanner, Alva Noto, Midaircondo. As a member of the internationally acclaimed group AlterEgo and for his solo projects he has performed in all the major contemporary music festivals (Stockholm New Music, MaerzMusik, Festival Archipel, Ircam, Romaeuropa Festival, Ultima Festival Oslo, Wien Modern, Gaida Festival, Huddersfield Festival, Nous Sons Barcellona, Taktlos Berna, Musica Electronica Nova Wroclaw, Teatro San Martin Buenos Aires , Munich Biennale, Bologna Festival, Milano Musica, Biennale Venezia among others). He regularly plays chamber music with partners such as I. Arditti, G. Carmignola, M. Campanella, P. Farulli, V. Hagen, A. Lonquich, A. Lucchesini, E. Pace, R. Schmidt (Hagen string quartet), P. Vernikov. He won several competitions and with the quartet prizes at Pague spring (1st prize 1998), ARD Munich, Bordeaux. His performances were broadcasted by the German ARD, Saarländischer Rundfunk and Bayerische Rundfunk, the English BBC, Radio France, the Austrian ORF, Australian ABC and regularly for the Italian RAI Radio 3. He recorded for the labels Aulos, Dynamic, Ricordi, Stradivarius and Touch. His most recent releases are the first world recordings of Variazioni for cello and orchestra by Salvatore Sciarrino, rewarded with the prestigious “Diapason d’or”, the recently discovered Ballata by Giacinto Scelsi with the Italian National Radio Orchestra, and the debut album of his improvisation project with David Marana, Bowline. Next will be a Schumann album on Brilliant label. He has tought for more than ten years at the Scuola di musica di Fiesole.

EMANUELE TORQUATI

Emanuele Torquati is rapidly gaining international recognition for his poetic and passionate music making, communicative performances and engaging programming. He has been hailed as “a thoughtful musician and a champion of contemporary music” by the New York Times and as “a vibrant pianist, excellent overall” by the Boston Globe.
His flourishing career has taken him to some of Europe, Africa, Canada and America’s most illustrious venues, in such diverse cities as Addis Ababa, Buenos Aires (Teatro Colon), San Francisco, Banff, New York, Chicago, Vancouver, Boston, Paris, Lyon, Frankfurt, Berlin, Leipzig, Berlin, Prague, Krakow, Munich, Graz, Ljubljana, Kiev and Oslo.
His concerts have been broadcasted by RAI, BBC Radio3, Deutschland Radiokultur, MDR Kultur, Radio France, Swiss RSI, RTE Lyric and Euroradio.
A notable performer of new music and an avid chamber musician, he enjoys a diverse and varied career as a pianist. He was artist in residence at The Banff Centre with the project “Voyage Messiaen” in 2008 and in 2010 with “Intimate Sketches: Visions on Leos Janàcek”, and recently at the IIC Paris within the program “Les Promesses de l’Art”.
His first recording, “Promenade sentimentale”, devoted to the Complete Piano Music of Albert Roussel has been followed by the Complete Piano Music by Alexander Zemlinsky for Brilliant Classics.
With cellist Francesco Dillon, he recorded 3 Cds with Schumann rarities and the Complete Works by Franz Liszt.
Moreover, he has worked intensively with leading composers including Salvatore Sciarrino, Sylvano Bussotti, Wolfgang Rihm, Kaija Saariaho, Beat Furrer, Jonathan Harvey, Brett Dean, Magnus Lindberg, Peter Ablinger and he has collaborated among others with musicians such as Isabel Charisius, Matthias Pintscher, Michael Gielen, Marisol Montalvo, Garth Knox, Susanne Linke, Inon Barnatan and Prometeo String Quartet.
The recipient of several international awards, Torquati has been supported by Institutions such as CEMAT, Accademia Musicale Chigiana, DAAD Bonn, Ambassade de France en Italie, Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Graz, Ensemble Modern, The Banff Centre.
He has been invited to give Masterclasses within several Universities and Conservatories in Italy and abroad, a.o. for Longy School, Boston University, University of La Plata (Argentina), Trinity College Dublin.
Torquati was born in Milan in 1978. His most influential teachers were Giancarlo Cardini and Konstantin Bogino. He also worked closely with Alexander Lonquich, Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen, Ian Pace, Michael Wendeberg.
He went on to specialize in Chamber Music first with Franco Rossi (Quartetto Italiano), then he achieved a Master Degree at the International Chamber Music Academy of the Trio di Trieste.
Since 2010, he’s the artistic director of music@villaromana for German institution Villa Romana.

VILLA ROMANA

Villa Romana is a place of contemporary artistic production and of international exchange. Only ten minutes away from the city centre of Florence, it combines the peacefulness of a neoclassical villa within a large garden property with the urban reality of a city. Since 1905, the core function of the Villa Romana has been the Villa Romana Prize.
Through exhibitions and a broad range of events Villa Romana interacts with producers and the public, placing itself on the international artistic scene and promoting communication with the cultures of the Mediterranean area. The patron of the Villa Romana and founder of the Villa Romana Fellowship is the non-profit association Villa Romana e.V..